Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea side clung on to beat Luton 3-2 (Picture: Getty)
Mauricio Pochettino sympathised with Thiago Silva’s reaction at full-time as Chelsea clung on to secure a 3-2 win over Luton.
The Blues looked on course for a comfortable victory when Cole Palmer put his side into a three-goal lead with just 20 minutes remaining.
Palmer had opened the scoring with a pinpoint strike inside the opening quarter of an hour and then turned provider to set-up Noni Madueke for his second goal in two matches eight minutes before the break.
The home side refused to cave in, however, and with Chelsea easing off, they set-up a grandstand finish after goals from Ross Barkley and Elijah Adebayo exposed the visitor’s soft underbelly.
Chelsea eventually clung on to secure maximum points but the reaction of their experienced centre-half told its own story at the final whistle.
Thiago ushered the cameras away as he stood deep in thought before he was seen having a heated conversation with second half substitute Enzo Fernandez.
Asked for his reaction to Thiago’s frustrations, Pochettino told TNT Sport: ‘Thiago is like this. He is always moaning and never happy – but that is good.
‘He is 39 years old and still playing. I think sometimes we are there on the pitch but sometimes it was the small details.
‘You want to show that you want to help the team and your emotion is there.’
‘It is amazing, 39 years old and still playing like a 20-year-old,’ Pochettino later told BBC Sport. ‘He brings his experience to the team and he is doing really well.’
Victory did, at least, secure rare back-to-back victories for Chelsea this season and Pochettino hopes his team can now start to build momentum ahead of the second half of what has been a difficult maiden campaign for him in the Stamford Bridge hot seat.
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He said: ‘It is the Premier League. It is the toughest league in the world. Luton are very good. They are building something very good and we need to give credit to Luton. We can see how they perform and never give up. I think we played really well until we conceded. Then they increased in belief.
‘In the first half we controlled very well, second half we started to concede crosses and corners. For us at 3-0 the game looks over but in the Premier League it is never over.
‘We need to show more capacity to manage this type of situation. When you have something in your hands you don’t want to lose it and you go deeper.’
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